Otres Beach, Cambodia

It was great, to finally hit the beach after a few weeks travelling hard, lots of planes, lots of places. 250km walking around the sights (I don’t think I walked that much all year!)

Otres Beach, for the moment, is a quiet place. A lot like Koh Samui was 20 odd years ago. Bars, basic huts on the beach and one or two places with nicer bungalows in and around the hostels across the small dusty road. Most places are thatch and one storey.

Lots of people on the beach wanting to give you manicures, massages, threading – felt like a big slumber party… And, the best part of all 25 -50cent beer during Happy 2-3 Hour – my favourite time of the day!

My little place was a thatched rondavel, mostly open with a mosquito net and an outside bathroom. I shared this with George and Mildred until Bob joined us. I only saw these guys at night when we played a nightly battling of who would get to use the toilet! If I got there first I made them very mad as I always put the seat down. Twice they jumped on me in the night, luckily I know some moves and wrestled them to the ground – frogs are sneaky little buggers.

NYE was MAD people were setting off Fireworks and 10s of thousands of lanterns from 6 pm nonstop till the early hours. Midnight was absolutely insane. It was an incredible sight. Early in the evening, an old man got a fright when he lit a big firework and dropped it in the sand in front of where we were sitting. The firework took off and hit my friend in the face and started going off at our feet. Luckily she only got a small mark as it exploded as it bounced on the floor at our feet – no health and safety here!

Kampot was next. A cute but run downtown along the river. Another day on a scooter checking out the area. Crab market in Kep – shame they were so little! The Bokor NP. A really fun ride around the many hairpin bends as we rode to the top of the mountain to visit the abandoned casinos and buildings very cool – we were a bit tired at the end after 130km of riding – a nice feeling!